October 24, 2014 -- As far as intelligence agencies go, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has remained relatively low profile—attracting neither the intrigue of, say, the CIA nor the umbrage directed toward the National Security Agency.

But even as other realms of spycraft have been battered by revelations over intrusive government surveillance, the role of geospatial intelligence—interactive mapping and satellite imagery—appears poised for primetime.